Join us on February 20th for an informative presentation by James Leidel with DTE Energy!  This meeting will be held in the Training Room of Pleune Service Company (park enter in the back off of Linden Ave SE)

Resilient, Low Energy and Net Zero Energy Buildings Founded on Combined Heat and Power (Cogeneration)

For many businesses and institutions, energy efficiency and clean energy are now becoming part of everyday business.  Close to one half of Fortune 500 companies have set energy targets using metrics of greenhouse gas reductions, energy efficiency or renewable energy usage. What are the strategies utilized by highly efficient commercial and industrial facilities in both their building systems, processes and energy supply?  This presentation will provide an overview of strategies that can be implemented to achieve 50% and 75% energy reductions as well as the ultimate goal of zero net energy (ZNE).  The definition of zero net energy will be discussed.  We will consider the ability to engineer a low energy system based on the metric of net "source energy" that would have otherwise been provided by remote, central power generation combined with highly efficient building systems and processes, combined with on-site solar and wind energy installations.  Some amount of natural gas technologies, such as combined heat and power (CHP), can still be utilized using this definition of ZNE.  Lastly, off site, remote installations of renewables may be necessary to fully implement a ZNE energy operation.  Case studies will be offered to showcase successful implementations of individual strategies.

James Leidel has been involved in the energy and energy management industries since his graduation from Purdue University with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1990. From 1991 to 2001, he worked in various positions with Invensys Building Systems (formerly Barber-Colman) and Detroit Edison, followed by 10 years as Energy Manger for Oakland University’s Facilities Management Department. In 2011, James created the Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) within the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Oakland University, and he then moved over to be the director, where he worked on prototypes and commercialization of several new clean energy technologies as well as support OU and other organization’s clean energy infrastructure needs. In August of 2017, James returned to DTE Energy to support the DTE Gas industrial and commercial group with a focus on Combined Heat and Power Systems.

While at OU, James assisted with the development of multiple power projects totaling over 8.3 MW encompassing solar PV, gas turbines and reciprocating peakers.  In the midst of the above career, James completed an MS in mechanical engineering from U-M.  He also provided studies for many other institutions for CHP, utility scale solar and wind systems.  While at Oakland U, James taught Environmental Science, “Energy and the Environment”, as well as multiple mechanical engineering courses including a newly developed clean energy curricula including alternative energy, CHP systems, CHP, green buildings and energy management.

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